Parliament Workbench

Petition · PE01491 · Session 4

Secret society membership declaration by decision makers.

Closed Submitted 26 Nov 2012
Signatures
0
3,116 online signatures with a country
Comments
181
Considered
2 meetings
in the Official Report

What it asks

Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to amend the law or codes of practice to make it compulsory for decision makers such as sheriffs, judges, and juries at their courts, arbiters, and all panel members of tribunals that are convened and held in Scotland and governed by devolved legislation, custom and practice, to declare if they have ever been members of organisations, such as the Masons, that demand fraternal preference to their brethren over non-brethren, or organisations which have constitutions or aims that are biased against any particular sect, religion or race.
That a register of such membership is held by the various bodies that supervise such judicial and quasi-judicial tribunals and that access to these registers is given on demand to the defendant, litigant, or plaintiff wishing to exercise their rights to a fair hearing in accordance with Article 6 of the ECHR.

What the petitioner did first

In 2000 I petitioned the Scottish Parliament with PE 306 which was in a similar vein to this petition. Then, after having been under consideration for over three years with the parliament the petition was dismissed without reason.
The Public Petitions Committee summary of the petition showed that the committee had closed the petition in December 2002 when in fact the terms of the petition were considered by the Justice 2 Committee on 04 March and the Public Petitions Committee on 18 March 2003. The latter anomaly has recently been corrected and the meeting of 04 March can be found here: http://archive.scottish.parliament.uk/business/committees/historic/justice1/mop-03/j2mop0304.htm
The meeting of the Justice 2 Committee, of 4th March, was not insignificant. The Justice Minister Jim Wallace was questioned by the committee on my submissions regarding membership of the Speculative Society of Edinburgh and the Masons among the judiciary. The Minister said he had not had time to read my submissions but he would do and revert to the committee. There is no record of this having happened.
Furthermore despite the fact that the committee had asked me to provide examples of cases where there was a perception that freemasonry had influenced a court or tribunal the committee did not publish the submissions I made in this regard.
I believe that this censorship was draconian given that details of own case, Stott v Minogue 2000 SLT (Sh Ct) 25, & GWD 36-1386,
- which spawned the petition – and the decision by the Social Security Commissioner, Ref: CS1/136/02. are in part matters of public record, or have been reported widely in the press and legal journals and are the two most important Scottish cases that deal with the influence of freemasonry in the justice system.
Having sought to determine my rights to challenge the existing law which allows non-disclosure of (secret) membership of fraternal organisations by decision makers by the courts, my elected representatives, and the previous government (which subverted the public petitions process), I am now attempting to resolve this anomaly with a new government, which claims to be open and accountable to the people of Scotland.

Where it was considered

Official Report
  1. 12 Nov 2013
    Public Petitions Committee
    New Petitions
    1 mention
  2. 28 Jan 2014
    Public Petitions Committee
    Current Petitions
    1 mention

Signatures by country

3,116 online signatures
  1. Scotland2,291 73.5%
  2. United Kingdom364 11.7%
  3. England210 6.7%
  4. Canada36 1.2%
  5. Australia34 1.1%
  6. United States29 0.9%
  7. Northern Ireland25 0.8%
  8. Ireland24 0.8%
  9. Wales12 0.4%
  10. Sweden9 0.3%
  11. 29 other countries82 2.6%

Comments

181 comments, oldest first
181 comments · showing 1–50
  1. Joe Di Paola 1 Aug 2013
    I am in full support of this petition. all dealings of public bodies must be free of any bias or secret influence
  2. Robert Alexander 4 Aug 2013
    With a Scottish government there should be no bias or corruption in the judicial system. Scotland should lead the way.
  3. Robbie the Pict 9 Aug 2013
    Particular focus should attend those organisations which demand an oath of any kind. Which master will be served in such circumstances?
  4. David Tracey 11 Aug 2013
    Civic Scotland should be open and honest and the citizens of the country treated equally without favour.
  5. bmac 11 Aug 2013
    long overdue to be changed for proper justice,fairness and transparency to be implimented
  6. alex anderson 11 Aug 2013
    cant harm the majority. can it?
  7. Bob Clark 11 Aug 2013
    The petition doesn't go far enough
    - it should include ALL aspects of public life. For example, freemasonry still plays a big part in the recruitment processes in many sectors, including local government.

    That said, the judicial system above all must be free from any corrupting influence.
  8. Ray McAllister 12 Aug 2013
    Absolute transparency is a fundamental requirement in any modern society, the days of secretive dealings and understandings need to end.
  9. John k flood 12 Aug 2013
    If Freemasonry is, as I am frequently informed, a benign, fraternal and positive force for good in our society, then there should be no need for membership not to be disclosed by any mason in, or seeking, employment in our public services. I support the petition.
  10. Paul Cochrane 12 Aug 2013
    Important that transparency and justice is paramount.
  11. Andy 12 Aug 2013
    Long overdue, there should be no secret societies of this nature in a modern Scotland.
  12. John Tonner 12 Aug 2013
    Public servants must be free of conflicts of interest.
  13. Kev 14 Aug 2013
    Can't believe this is not already required by law
  14. Chris Johnson 14 Aug 2013
    I hope this will extend to the remainer of the United Kingdom, also to cover Police Officers and others in a position of power, able to be manipulated!
  15. Martyn Beaton 15 Aug 2013
    This law should already exist. But we all know there is too much of this happening in Scotland. Too many cover-ups. look at Hamilton shootings Piper Alpha, Lockerbie, Ibrox Disaster, Solway Harvester, US extradition flights, RFC cheating the tax man etc etc.
  16. Robbie the Pict 16 Aug 2013
    Members of an ancient 'debating society' were involved in the setting up and judicial protection of the criminally unlawful A87 road tolling scam at the Skye crossing. This extorted tens of millions of pounds from the scottish road-users and tax-payers, the cover-up of which was aided and abetted by all major political parties, including the SNP. Give us one honest Judge in Scotland, please!!
  17. Martin McCrum 16 Aug 2013
    All public servants in particualr should declare their memberships in all cases. there should be no bias or deemed bias in any way regardless of the society. its a fair and a holistic approach, if they are honest in their approach there should be nothing to worry about.
  18. P Docherty 17 Aug 2013
    no opportunity should be given to any conflict of interests when it comes to upholding & maintaining the law.
  19. Jan Ooms 17 Aug 2013
    Where secrecy or mystery begins, vice or roguery is not far off. Johnson, Dr Samuel
  20. Billy Coyle 21 Aug 2013
    They are Scotlands answer to the K K K
  21. Patrick Cullinane 22 Aug 2013
    The Legal & Judicial Mafia, Politicians & Police have HIJACKED God's Laws and the Law of the Land for their own ENRICHMENT!
  22. Tom Doherty 24 Aug 2013
    The Masons in charge will block this one.
  23. Jim Mc Ginn 26 Aug 2013
    Scotland will never be united with the Secretive Masonic bias & prejudice against non members and Catholics.
  24. Mark Lynch 27 Aug 2013
    fairness and transparency for all !
  25. Mr Arthur Donaldson (RIP) 30 Aug 2013
    No secret societies.Freedom and Fairness for all.Gor rest Daddy D .
  26. andy 31 Aug 2013
    transparency please
  27. David Cain 31 Aug 2013
    I wish to see all vested interests, masonic and otherwise, fully visible to public scrutiny.
  28. Elizabeth Watson 1 Sep 2013
    This is important, because there is irrefutable evidence that judges or those in high office, who are members of a Club, Society, sect or Masonic, are acting with vested interests and conducting to an alternative Agenda which is prejudicial to those whom they are supposed to sit with, impartially! They can't have it both ways.
  29. International Mens Organisation 1 Sep 2013
    We have many members that have been made bankrupt, homeless and penniless thanks to ruthless judicial decisions that the Scottish Parliament have been made well aware of and have until now failed those men .

    The freemasonic hold over judicial decisions MUST STOP and will continue to be exposed until ALL decisions in law are no longer tainted by the vile stench of freemasonry. Juries must be reinstated where masonic judges have stealthily given themselves undue influence over non mason mens wealth and property and heavily weighted in favour of their own lodge buddies who do NOT suffer a similar fate.
  30. International Mens Organisation 2 Sep 2013
    Prior to the hearing of this petition ALL committee members should declare any undue influence or connections they may have that might prejudice the outcome of this very important petition.
  31. kelvin evans 2 Sep 2013
    nobody in a public office should belong to a secret group of any kind
  32. martin 3 Sep 2013
    This is an important petition, long overdue.
    One of the proscribed organisations to be included is called Common Purpose, whose motto is 'Leading Beyond Authority', is secretive about its membership and practices, and has infiltrated every tier of governance, from Downing Street to neighbourhoods, undermines the democratic processes, procures business via insider dealing, and exercises influence, interest and control for its own benefit.
  33. john griffin 3 Sep 2013
    people in this country have a right to know the influence some bodies have on the outcome of many decisions made.
  34. Greg Dumelow 3 Sep 2013
    Totally against it.
  35. Mairead 5 Sep 2013
    Does this include investigation into Roman Catholic secret societies too?
  36. M. McGinley 5 Sep 2013
    There can be no justifiable reason for not having transparency.
  37. Paul Flynn 5 Sep 2013
    "We need clarity".
  38. M GILLEN 6 Sep 2013
    Good luck with this,no-one should have an advantage due to closed and secret societies
  39. John McDonnell 6 Sep 2013
    Time to shine some light on the murky corners of funny hanshakes and underhand, back-room, back-scratching.
  40. Martin Tighe 6 Sep 2013
    If they have nothing to hide they should have no issue with this petition! Time to come clean gents.
  41. Matthew Mochan 6 Sep 2013
    Transparency is vital in positions such as those cited for the populace to have faith in the democratic system. The proposals mooted in this petition are ones that should already be in place.
  42. Tom Minogue, petitioner 6 Sep 2013
    If they have nothing to hide they should have no issue with this petition! Time to come clean gents.

    Martin Tighe

    10:58 on 06 Sep 2013
    &

    nobody in a public office should belong to a secret group of any kind

    kelvin evans

    15:32 on 02 Sep 2013
    .............
    Agree with both of these supportive comments even though you guys don't appear to have signed the petition.
  43. thomas cochrane 6 Sep 2013
    This cult has held sway and corrupted sport,local gvmt,& business and all walks of life,in this country for far to long.
  44. billy whyte 6 Sep 2013
    i think a stand has to be made on these matters.
  45. Paul Flynn 6 Sep 2013
    Should we not have clarity ?.
  46. John Mahon 6 Sep 2013
    Make the courts transparent
  47. Palacio67 6 Sep 2013
    transparancy is paramount
  48. THE MAD MONT 7 Sep 2013
    THE SCALES OF DISCRIMINATION SHALL BE REALIGNED, IT IS TIME!
  49. Daniel Murray 7 Sep 2013
    A worthy petition
  50. James McQuade 7 Sep 2013
    If they have nothing to hide,what's the problem for them in declaring any secret society membership.